Why Did Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu in Seoul Appoint an Outsider as Public Relations Director?

Appointment of Grade 5 General Service Public Officials as Public Relations Directors in 23 Autonomous Districts Including Jongno, Jung-gu, Seongdong, and Yongsan Replaced by External Recruitment in Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu... Dongdaemun-gu and Guro-gu Unable to Appoint Long-term Contract Team Leaders as Public Relations Directors, Sending Them to External Organizations Despite Grade 5 Equivalent

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Among the 25 autonomous districts of Seoul, 23 districts have their public relations chiefs held by regular civil servants, while Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu have attracted attention by recruiting external experts.

In 23 districts including Jongno-gu, Jung-gu, Seongdong-gu, and Yongsan-gu, the public relations chiefs are appointed from grade 5 (manager-level) civil servants.

This is because they entered as grade 9 or grade 7 civil servants and have worked at their respective district offices for about 30 years, thus knowing the office work, staff, and local conditions better than anyone else.

However, despite these advantages, Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu selected external personnel through an open recruitment process.

In particular, after Mayor Jeong Soon-gyun took office in the 7th local election, he appointed a marketing expert as the head of the public relations office through an open recruitment, but after a short period of service, the expert resigned, and a regular civil servant was appointed as the head of the public relations office.

However, once again, a person who had been serving as the chief secretary in an open position was appointed as the head of the public relations office through an open recruitment.

This appears to be because Mayor Jeong Soon-gyun, who is a former journalist, was not satisfied with the role of the public relations chief being held by a regular civil servant.

Also, Cho Eun-hee, the mayor of Seocho-gu and a former journalist, appointed a conservative-leaning internet media reporter and a person who worked at the Blue House as the public relations chief through an open recruitment process this year.

In contrast to Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu, Dongdaemun-gu and Guro-gu could not appoint long-serving contract media team leaders as public relations chiefs, instead appointing them as public relations policy advisors or council specialists.

Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol of Dongdaemun-gu completed the ordinance revision to allow external personnel to be appointed as public relations chiefs and tried to appoint a media team leader, but due to internal opposition, the appointment was unsuccessful. Instead, the person was appointed as a grade 5-level public relations policy advisor.

Mayor Lee Sung of Guro-gu appointed a team leader-level employee with over 15 years of public relations experience as a grade 5-level council specialist through an open recruitment.

Thus, depending on the district mayor’s decision, the appointment of external personnel as public relations heads is divided between those who can and those who cannot.

The reason 23 districts use regular civil servants is interpreted as the strong opposition to appointing outsiders to grade 5 positions, which usually require 25 to 30 years of service within the district office.

When an external person who has not worked long is used, there may be no communication problems with the mayor, but it is true that there are communication limitations due to a lack of familiarity with internal executives and staff.